Magic Lantern Slides at Hove Museum & Art Gallery

The optical, film and cinema collection at Hove Museum

While exploring Hove museum I was really impressed by the two galleries dedicated to their optical toys, devices, film and cinema collection. A great mix of stories, machines, objects and historic films playing in a tiny cinema. Part of this collection includes magic lantern slides and a fine selection of projectors.

Why magic lantern slides?

At work (Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery) there’s a research project about the museum’s magic lantern slide collection. The A Million Pictures project is international in scope involving museums and universities. Part of this includes digitising and adding the slides to the museum’s database and collections website. Being involved in this project kindled an interest in magic lantern slides as social history and as objects in their own right.

Assisting my more learned colleagues with slide shows at museum events added fuel to the fire. Thinking of fuel we used an electric light rather than anything more inflammable and exciting. From this my interest in both slides and projectors has grown.

Ready to be a projector’s assistant

The collection at Hove Museum

Finding a gallery with lots of magic lantern slides related content was a lovely surprise. There were full size projectors along with smaller ones for home use and even toy ones. A two lens (biunial) projector from the 1870s was very impressive. The brass was gleaming and the wood glowing with polish. A later projector was displayed with its case and accessories showing how bulky these were.

1870s magic lantern slide projector

Slide projector on its case

By way of contrast small projectors for home use and toy projectors were displayed, These also had slide mounts and strips of images with them. The strips of images often had amusing images for home entertainment on. There is also an impressive backlit wall of slides to give an idea of the variety of subjects found. I didn’t look at every one but could have happily done so!

Slide mounts, slides and projectors

Illuminated magic lantern slides

If you’re in the Brighton and Hove area I recommend a visit to Hove Museum and Art Gallery

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The author

Intro

Welcome to a blog that is the culmination of nearly fifty years of visiting cafes and nearly forty years of a fascination with history in its more tangible forms, including playing tabletop games with little metal men, and dabbing about with photography